Alternative Asset

When you think of investing, a few things usually come to mind: stocks, bonds and, at times, your mattress. But a wide universe of potential investments exists. Tons of ways to lose your money out there. The more unusual investment types are generally categorized as alternative assets.

Some of these fall into the general Wall Street sphere (the round kind), though they remain exotic for run-of-the-mill investors. Think: hedge funds, art work, rare coins, private equity, venture capital funds and/or just fancy bundles of derivatives. Other types of alternative assets might seem more like hobbies than investments. We're thinking of things like collecting rare wine or ancient Chinese erotic thimbles.

The issue with alternative assets is that they often require some specialized knowledge, a minimum amount of wealth and income, and a minimum standard of demonstrated financial expertise. They can be Century Investments (the kind that can go down 100% so the thought is that the less sophisticated investors who can't afford to lose everything should be made aware or protected from this peril.) Also, the markets tend to be far less liquid, meaning that it often takes a long time to get back your cash after you've bought all those sexy thimbles.